State legislator first to disclose personal salary, benefits details

MIDLAND - Almost half of the 25 largest public school
districts in Michigan now post their checkbook registers online, according to
Ken Braun, director of the Mackinac Center's "Show Michigan
the Money" project.

"With the posting of its checkbook register by Bay
City Public Schools, another one of Michigan's
largest districts has made public its finances," Braun said.

Other recent districts to embrace transparency include Clio, Swan
Valley and Pinconning. Braun has been encouraging all 551 public school
districts, every charter public school, each municipality and every state
legislator in Michigan to regularly provide this data on their Web sites.

Though many districts began posting after being prompted by
Braun, the Livingston
ESA has been posting its register for several
years.

"Since 2007, I have made sure our board financial reports and
our check registers were posted on our Web site," said Assistant Superintendent
Michael Hubert. "Although I don't think many people access what we have posted,
I am glad that when people do need the information, it is available." Hubert
added that the district is looking to make even more information available.

Officials from another one of the state's largest school
districts, Lansing, have stated that they are working on posting their
register. All told, there are 64 public school districts and three intermediate
school districts providing this information on the Internet. More than one in
five public school students attend a district that has an online check
register. Links to these school district checkbook registers are available at www.mackinac.org/9329.

In other transparency news, a state legislator has taken
his commitment to openness a step further.

During the recent crafting of the state budget, Rep. Tom
McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, helped to insert a provision into the K-12 School
Aid Fund that will require public school districts to disclose more financial
details on their official Web pages, such as the price they pay for health care
and other benefits. As an extension of this, McMillin is voluntarily using his
official state Web page to post the
cost and details of the benefit package he
receives. Earlier this year, McMillin became the first state-level politician
in Michigan to post the names and salaries of his
office staff on the Internet.

"Greater public access to public records is now advancing
so quickly that we can't report the progress fast enough," said Braun.
"Unfortunately, for every Livingston ESA that does the job before they're
asked, there are other districts that are falling behind this fast-growing
transparency trend."

Though 12 of the 25 largest districts provide online check
registers (and one is in the process), Braun listed those that do not yet
appear to be doing so: Detroit Public Schools, Grand Rapids Public Schools, Ann
Arbor Public Schools, Flint City School District, Warren Consolidated Schools,
Wayne-Westland Community Schools, L'Anse Creuse Public Schools, Kalamazoo
Public Schools, Port Huron Area School District, Huron Valley Schools, Forest
Hills Public Schools and Saginaw Public Schools.